Ming: I am fake, walking on thin ice

Chapter 100 Someone wants me dead!

Bianjing is the most prosperous capital in the world, and the city is full of spring for millions of families.

This is a sentence describing Kaifeng in the Song Dynasty. It is said that the population of Kaifeng at that time exceeded one million, making it the first city in the world. Today's Kaifeng is naturally not as good as that of the Song Dynasty.

Zhu Qizhen entered the city and looked around. The city was crowded with merchants, the market was prosperous, the buildings were tall, and the carriages and horses were crowded. He spread his hands and smiled: "Although Kaifeng is not as prosperous as the capital, it is also full of flowers and brocade."

"This ancient capital has its own unique style." Yang Guifang responded with a smile.

"Your Majesty, we are entering the city incognito again this time." Zhang Lun frowned and looked around vigilantly, "I always feel a little uneasy, especially after reading Shi Biao's secret report."

Zhu Qizhen seemed quite calm. He walked and looked around, saying, "That's why we have to go on a secret visit, so that we can find out who has bad intentions towards me. Hey, Yuelai Inn, let's go, we'll stay here."

After checking into the inn, they asked for three upper rooms and then went to the hall for dinner. Zhu Qizhen took the menu and ordered dishes with great interest: "Bianjing roast duck, carp baked noodles, and four treasures, all of which are recorded in "Dongjing Menghualu". I must taste them today."

"Your Majesty, you have read a lot of leisure books recently." Yang Guifang held her forehead helplessly.

Soon, the food and wine were served, and the three began to enjoy. At this time, the inn was bustling with people, and there were diners sitting all around, and the sound of conversation could be heard constantly.

"Alas, those disaster victims outside the city have finally left, and Kaifeng is finally peaceful. Fortunately, the Kaifeng prefect, Mr. Chen, is not like those dog officials in Xiangfu County. Otherwise, if he opened the city gates to let the disaster victims in, we would be in trouble."

"It is said that Xiangfu County ordered the city gates to be opened because of the arrival of an imperial envoy. Moreover, the imperial envoy was ruthless and executed more than 20 officials, and forced the gentry and wealthy merchants to donate money."

"Oh, then he must not come to our Kaifeng! We gentry don't have much surplus grain this year."

"Don't be afraid. King Zhou is in Kaifeng, and the prefect Chen Shou is no ordinary prefect. He was appointed by the Queen Mother to come to Kaifeng, and he has a strong backing."

"Didn't you say that Your Majesty has taken over the government? Does the Queen Mother's words still have any effect?"

"Why doesn't it work? Think about it, the Queen Mother has been regent for more than ten years. From the court to the local governments, how many officials were appointed by her? It's too early for Your Majesty to truly rule the country."

Zhu Qizhen listened to these discussions with a cold look in his eyes.

……

Suddenly, there were rapid footsteps.

A middle-aged man rushed in with a group of yamen runners. He shouted, "Everyone, stand up and don't move."

All the diners in the hall stood up. The shopkeeper hurried forward and bowed to the middle-aged man: "Master Tongzhi, why is this? These are all diners who come to eat."

The middle-aged man glanced at him coldly without saying anything, but waved his hand suddenly, and all the yamen runners behind him came forward and went to each table to check something.

Soon, after the inspection, nothing was found. The middle-aged man said in a cold voice: "I am Zhao Jing, the co-governor of Kaifeng Prefecture. His Majesty will arrive in Kaifeng in a few days. You all listen to me. If you meet a stranger, don't talk nonsense."

"Don't worry, Lord Zhao. We all understand." Someone said with a smile, "Kaifeng is a country of peace and prosperity."

"Yes, yes, yes, we will definitely not say that Kaifeng is bad." Someone agreed.

"Very good, you are sensible." Zhao Jing snorted and left with the yamen runners.

Zhu Qizhen's face was gloomy, and he lowered his voice and said, "No wonder, we didn't see a single disaster victim after entering the city, and the streets were clean. They must be ready to welcome me."

"If Your Majesty follows the dragon boat into the city, then the Kaifeng you see is what these officials want Your Majesty to see." Yang Guifang frowned, "You won't see the real Kaifeng at all."

Zhu Qizhen seemed to be thinking about something, and said, "Kaifeng Prefect Chen Shou, if I remember correctly, his evaluations were all excellent, right?"

Yang Guifang nodded: "Yes, he will work for one more year this year, and I think he will be promoted next year."

Zhu Qizhen rubbed his eyebrows.

What a guest just said is true. The Queen Mother has been regent for more than ten years. From the court to the local level, how many officials were appointed by her? My road to personal rule is really difficult.

Haha, if the government decree cannot leave the Qianqing Palace by then, it will be a huge joke.

If you don't come out and take a look in person, you will still be kept in the dark.

……

After dinner, the three of them strolled in the streets of Kaifeng. Before they knew it, they arrived in front of the Prince Zhou's mansion, which was magnificent and impressive. Zhu Qizhen looked at it from a distance and frowned, saying, "I read a memorial on the dragon boat that day, saying that the Prince Zhou was seriously ill."

"Your Majesty, do you want to go and take a look?" Yang Guifang said.

"Let's wait for the dragon boat to arrive." Zhu Qizhen smiled, "It doesn't matter if we wait for two days. Although the King of Zhou did not express his support for me in the capital at that time, he did not oppose me either. However..."

He had read the information about the Zhou Palace in detail when he was on the dragon boat. The first Zhou King Zhu Su had sixteen sons and more than ten daughters. He was the one who left the most descendants among the sons of Emperor Taizu.

By this generation, the Zhou Wangfu had more than a thousand people. All of them were members of the Ming royal family, supported by the imperial court. What a huge expense!

As a result, many of the lands in Kaifeng belonged to the Zhou royal family. Not only that, when the queen mother was in power, she also gave some of the taxes in Kaifeng to the Zhou royal palace.

"The court has too many idle people." Zhu Qizhen muttered.

Yang Guifang and Zhang Lun were silent after hearing this. This was a royal family matter, and outsiders had better keep quiet. Yang Guifang changed the subject and said, "Your Majesty, when you come to Kaifeng, you must go to see the Iron Pagoda Temple." The Iron Pagoda in Kaifeng is known as the "No. 1 Pagoda in the World", and Zhu Qizhen also yearned for it. The three of them were not in a hurry, and they walked and stopped along the way until they arrived at the Iron Pagoda Temple.

Looking up, the iron tower soared into the clouds. Zhu Qizhen was deeply impressed by the advanced architectural technology of ancient China. This tower must be at least fifty meters high.

It is graceful and upright, and the glazed components are bright and beautiful.

"Come on, go in and take a look." He waved his hand.

……

After entering the temple, they found that there were not many people. It was probably dusk and everyone had gone home. The three of them entered the tower and began to climb. The tower has thirteen floors in total. When they reached the seventh floor, the three of them leaned on the railing and looked into the distance.

Suddenly, footsteps were heard upstairs and downstairs. In a blink of an eye, more than 20 men in black blocked their way up and down. Zhu Qizhen glanced over and said, "Fuck, there really is an assassin."

Zhang Lun strode to the front without any panic, drew out his long sword and pointed: "Stop talking nonsense, I have to hurry back for dinner, come on together."

He faced the wave coming up from downstairs, while Zhu Qizhen faced the wave coming down from upstairs. He didn't say a word, just drew his sword and rushed forward.

scold!
The long sword in his hand passed across.

Clang clang!
After a brief sound of sword fighting, the man in black screamed, his clothes were torn, his flesh was turned inside out, blood gushed out, and he fell to the ground spitting blood!

In the blink of an eye, four or five people fell to the ground.

The men in black were all numb. Are they so fierce? They just started killing without asking any questions?

Zhu Qizhen did not give them a chance to react. There was a flash of knife, and soon, corpses were lying all over the ground. His long knife was placed on the neck of the last man in black.

"Tell me, who sent you here?" he asked coldly.

The man in black bit down hard, as if he had swallowed something. In a moment, black blood flowed from his mouth and he died. Zhu Qizhen kicked the corpse and frowned: "There is poison in his mouth."

He immediately turned around and shouted to Zhang Lun on the other side: "They have poison in their mouths, leave them alive."

scold!
Zhang Lun chopped off the head of the last black-clothed man here, wiped the blood off the tip of the knife, and snorted: "No one survives under my knife."

Snapped!
Yang Guifang, who was standing in the middle, stepped forward and slapped him on the back of the head, saying angrily: "If you don't leave them alive, how can you know their origins?"

Zhang Lun stared in silence: "It's obvious that these are all dead men. They won't give us a chance to survive. You can do it. Why didn't you do it just now? Your martial arts skills are not weaker than mine."

"Well, isn't this a warning to you?" Yang Guifang spread her hands.

"Haha, you are so strong. Let His Majesty go in person and you will be on guard?" Zhang Lun rolled his eyes.

Yang Guifang looked helpless: "No... I wanted to go up, but His Majesty didn't give me a chance and rushed forward with his sword drawn."

Zhu Qizhen walked up to the two of them and glared at them: "Stop talking nonsense! Humph, it seems that someone really wants me to die."

……

night.

Zhu Qizhen, Yang Guifang and Zhang Lun were drinking and admiring the moon in the attic of the inn. Yang Guifang had the worst alcohol tolerance and his face was red. "Your Majesty, why don't you return to Beijing as soon as possible? I am a little worried."

Zhu Qizhen took a sip and said, "I came out this time not only to provide disaster relief. I want to see the real Ming Dynasty with my own eyes. Only then will I know what to do next. Therefore, I cannot go back yet."

"But..." Yang Guifang frowned, "The people behind those assassins must be very powerful."

Zhang Lun looked nonchalant: "What are you afraid of? With me here, no one can hurt Your Majesty."

Yang Guifang wanted to punch him and said angrily, "It's easy to dodge an open attack but hard to guard against an arrow from the dark. Your Majesty is responsible for the safety of the country. Do you understand? If anything goes wrong, you and I will both be sinners of the Ming Dynasty."

"It's not that serious!" Zhu Qizhen chuckled, "The emperor is actually not that important. If he dies, we can just appoint a new one."

His eyes were sharp, and he was wondering who would send someone to assassinate him, and who wanted him to die at this time? Although the Queen Mother knew that she was a fake, she would not take action now, because her own son was still in Mobei.

Then, there are only two people left: the Duke of England and the King of Qing.

Because as long as he died, it would most likely be the King of Qing who would ascend the throne. For the Duke of Ying, the Ming Dynasty would return to the hands of the Zhu family. As for the King of Qing, he had hidden ambitions.

"Your Majesty, you must not think like that. The Ming Dynasty has finally begun to revive, how can it do without you, Your Majesty?" Yang Guifang said.

Zhu Qizhen glanced at him and said, "Why do I feel that you are not sincere?"

Yang Guifang stood up and bowed earnestly: "Then I will tell you my true thoughts. Your Majesty, I am still thinking of relying on you, and finally being able to split the land and become a king... Oh no, no, there are no kings of different surnames in the Ming Dynasty, I am still thinking of becoming a duke."

Zhu Qizhen smiled slightly.

(End of this chapter)